Influence of temperature and BN nanoparticles on UV, thermal and dark curing of a cycloaliphatic epoxy resin

The influence of boron nitride (BN) nanoparticles on cationic photopolymerization of an epoxy resin at different temperatures was investigated employing photo-DSC. A difunctional cycloaliphatic epoxy resin was polymerized in the presence of triarylsulfonium hexafluoroantimonate salts (cationic photoinitiator). BN-epoxy dispersions containing 5 mass% of BN were obtained by sonication. The epoxy conversion during UV irradiation was determined at seven temperatures, from 30 to 90 °C. The conversion reached was strongly dependent on temperature, and lower conversions were obtained in the presence of BN. After the UV curing, the samples were thermally postcured by dynamic heating in the DSC. The thermal postcuring shows two exothermal peaks, being the main one dependent on the temperature of the previous UV curing and on the composition. The total achieved conversion (65–77%) is lower for the samples containing BN compared to neat epoxy. The UV-irradiated samples at 40 °C reached conversions between 24 and 36%; afterward, they were kept under isothermal dark curing (40 °C) up to 1 month leading to significant conversion increases, independently of the composition and reaching a final conversion between 60 and 70%. DMTA measurements of dark-cured specimens evidence a heterogeneous epoxy matrix, thus needing higher postcuring temperatures to get homogeneity. The T_g of the epoxy matrix is reduced in the presence of BN nanoparticles.